Recaps

After six months of conditioning and Omni-Directional Mobility Gear training, Keith began hand-to-hand combat lessons. Arthur trained with Christa, making Mikasa jealous, then cared for Mikasa before the chapter ended with Eren hurting his training partner.

• Keith ended the physical conditioning and Omni-Directional Mobility Gear courses and announced hand-to-hand combat training.
• Arthur was paired with Christa and easily disarmed her during their first practice bout.
• Arthur taught Christa self-defense moves, while Mikasa grew unsettled watching them and Ymir became jealous.
• Arthur gave Christa water, then went to Mikasa, offered her water, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
• Arthur drank from Mikasa's cup, making her blush, before a shout about Eren's rough training drew his attention.

Arthur accepted Annie Leonhart’s challenge after she attacked him, then demonstrated his superior fighting skills in front of the cadets. He left Annie defeated and injured but later admitted to Mikasa that he might have gone too far.

• Eren defeated Reiner in their training match using techniques Arthur had taught him, and both declined to spar with Arthur.
• Annie challenged Arthur and kicked at him as he turned away, prompting Mikasa to step in before Arthur agreed to fight Annie.
• Arthur let Annie attack him for ten moves, avoiding or absorbing her strikes, then overwhelmed her with a relentless assault.
• Arthur dislocated Annie’s arm with a joint lock and kept her pinned until she yielded, then put her arm back in place and walked away with Mikasa.
• Keith ordered Mina and Christa to take Annie to the infirmary while the cadets discussed Arthur’s strength and ruthlessness.
• Arthur told Mikasa he thought he had gone too far and thanked her for standing up for him.

Arthur excelled at horsemanship, shared his knowledge with the cadets, and was appointed their instructor after Keith recognized the value of his methods. He declined Commander Dot Pixis’s offer to join the Garrison, and the chapter ended with the cadets receiving three days off.

• After three months of teaching Annie hand-to-hand combat, Arthur began horsemanship training with the other cadets.
• Eren repeatedly failed to tame his horse while Jean, Connie, and Sasha teased one another; Mikasa told Armin that Arthur had learned to ride as a child.
• Arthur earned full marks on the first day, then taught Christa, Ymir, and the other cadets how to handle their horses.
• Keith had Arthur record his horsemanship knowledge and appointed him an instructor, helping most of the cadets complete the course.
• Commander Dot Pixis praised Arthur and offered him a place in the Garrison, but Arthur refused so he could stay with Mikasa, Eren, and the others.
• Keith announced that horsemanship training had ended and gave all the cadets three days off.

During their three-day holiday, Eren, Arthur, Mikasa, and Armin visited Carla, where Eren’s teasing about Arthur and Christa sparked Mikasa’s jealousy. After they returned to the Training Corps, Arthur persuaded Keith to let Carla work as a cook, improving the food for all the trainees.

• Eren, Arthur, Mikasa, and Armin returned home for their holiday and shared a meal with Carla, who asked about their lives in the Training Corps.
• Eren suggested that Arthur and Christa liked each other, prompting Mikasa to snap her spoon and question Eren until he admitted he had misunderstood.
• After the holiday, the four returned to the Training Corps and missed Carla’s cooking.
• Arthur persuaded Keith to let Carla join the Training Corps as a cook, and Keith eventually agreed.
• Carla became the Training Corps cook, serving generous portions and greatly improving the meals, especially delighting Sasha.

Arthur Ackerman led his group on a loaded march and camped for the night, where he caught a bandit planning to steal the cadets’ Omni-Directional Mobility Gear. After learning that the bandits had guns and were targeting the other groups, Arthur rode with Jean and Ymir to warn Eren’s group.

• Arthur led group one to a campsite and arranged for the cadets to rest while he took the first watch.
• Arthur caught a masked man hiding near the camp and discovered that he was a bandit with accomplices.
• Arthur forced the bandit to reveal that twelve men planned to steal the cadets’ Omni-Directional Mobility Gear and that some carried guns.
• The bandit said his accomplices had already moved against the other groups, so Arthur sent Armin, Marco, and Mina to guard him.
• Arthur, Jean, and Ymir mounted their horses and rode toward Eren’s group to warn them.

Arthur found Eren and the others after bandits stole their Omni-Directional Mobility Gear and captured Christa. He gathered a rescue team and followed the bandits’ wagon tracks, leaving Eren’s group to alert Keith.

• Arthur, Ymir, and Jean reached the clearing and learned that the bandits had taken Christa after disarming Eren’s group.
• Ymir tried to rush after the bandits, but Arthur stopped her and learned that eleven outlaws, including six gunmen, were involved.
• Reiner, Annie, Bertolt, Mikasa, and the others arrived, and Arthur organized a rescue team while Eren’s group rode back to inform Keith.
• Arthur tracked the wagon ruts and planned to ambush the bandits, sending Mikasa, Reiner, and himself through the forest while Annie, Jean, and Ymir acted as bait.

Arthur and the recruits rescued Christa from the bandits by luring them into a trade and launching a coordinated attack. After the bandits were captured, Commander Pixis praised Arthur and offered to train him if he joined the Garrison.

• Annie, Jean, and Ymir followed the wagon tracks into a clearing and were ambushed by the bandits holding Christa.
• Jean negotiated with the bandit leader and asked to see Christa, giving Arthur and the others time to prepare.
• Arthur attacked the leader while Mikasa, Reiner, and Bertolt took down the gunmen, and Annie and Ymir helped subdue the remaining bandits.
• Mikasa freed Christa, and the recruits held the captured bandits until Instructor Keith arrived before dawn.
• Military Police Brigade soldiers took the bandits into custody, and Commander Pixis praised Arthur and offered to train him if he joined the Garrison.

In winter 849, the Training Corps began its dangerous snowy mountain exercise, with cadets divided into groups and ordered to reach a destination using limited supplies. Arthur led his group out, looking after Christa and worrying about the ailing Daz.

• Keith let cadets in poor physical condition withdraw, then assigned the remaining soldiers to groups led by cadets including Eren Yeager, Reiner Braun, and Arthur Ackerman.
• Arthur reassured Mikasa before the groups departed, while Ymir asked him to look after Christa.
• Daz began coughing violently, but refused Arthur's suggestion that he withdraw from the exercise.
• Arthur gave Christa his knitted winter hat after noticing her shivering in the wind.
• Arthur led his group toward the destination with a lantern and told everyone to stay close behind him.

Arthur led the trainees through the blizzard to their first rest stop, where he checked on the struggling Christa and Daz. Daz refused Arthur’s advice to withdraw, and the group set out again with him still unwell.

• Arthur checked that the group could continue and kept an eye on Christa and Daz as they trudged through the storm.
• Arthur led everyone to a wooden cabin, where they warmed up and ate their rations.
• Christa returned Arthur’s wool hat, but he told her to keep wearing it and take care of it for him.
• Daz developed a violent cough, and Arthur advised him to stay behind and withdraw from the training.
• Daz insisted he could continue, so Arthur led the group back into the blizzard after their rest.

Arthur led the exhausted trainees to the second rest stop, but Christa and Daz went missing in the blizzard. He found Christa barely conscious and carried her onward, leaving Daz behind as he hurried to save her.

• Daz collapsed with a high fever, and Christa volunteered to drag him while Arthur led the group onward.
• Arthur reached the second rest stop and discovered Christa and Daz had not arrived.
• Christa became lost while dragging Daz, collapsed in the snow, and began to succumb to the cold.
• Arthur searched for Christa, found her, and carried her while dragging Daz behind him.
• Arthur judged Christa's condition dire and abandoned Daz to move faster through the blizzard.

Arthur found an abandoned cabin and tried to save the unconscious Christa by warming her with his body. At the camp, the others learned that Arthur and Christa were missing, but the blizzard prevented a search party from setting out.

• Arthur carried Christa into an abandoned cabin, lit the stove, and pressed his bare chest against her to warm her.
• The fifth group reached camp without Arthur or Christa, and a trainee explained that Arthur had gone into the blizzard to find her.
• Mikasa and Ymir tried to leave to search for Arthur and Christa, but the instructor ordered everyone to stay inside until the storm eased.
• Eren and Armin restrained Mikasa and persuaded her to wait, and she returned inside to worry over Arthur.

Arthur saved Christa from freezing in a cabin, where the two grew closer and began a relationship. After the blizzard ended, Arthur returned with Christa, and the group learned that Daz had died beneath the snow.

• Arthur warmed Christa in the cabin until she woke, and she kissed him while he was asleep.
• Arthur urged Christa to live for herself, and she promised before the two kissed and became intimate.
• After the blizzard subsided, Arthur carried Christa back to the others, who were relieved to see them safe.
• Christa told Ymir what had happened but concealed her intimacy with Arthur, explaining that she could not walk because of a sprained ankle.
• Keith learned that Daz had not survived, and the group was told his body could not be found beneath the snow.

The 104th class graduated, and Keith announced the top ten cadets eligible to join the Military Police Brigade, with Arthur ranked first. At the final celebration, Arthur was caught between Christa and Mikasa as Ymir teased Mikasa about her feelings for him and began plotting to bring them together.

• Keith announced the three regiments and named Historia Reiss, Connie Springer, Marco Bott, Jean Kirstein, Eren Yeager, Annie Leonhart, Bertolt, Reiner Braun, Mikasa Ackerman, and Arthur Ackerman among the top ten, with Arthur as top graduate.
• Arthur and the other cadets celebrated graduation at a communal dinner, where Sasha turned her disappointment into a feast.
• Christa and Mikasa competed to fill Arthur's bowl while Ymir teased him and bickered with him.
• Ymir asked Mikasa whether she and Arthur were more like lovers than siblings, and Mikasa blushed without answering.
• Ymir privately decided to get Arthur and Mikasa together so she could have Christa to herself, while Arthur suspected she was plotting something.

At the graduation dinner, Eren’s argument with Jean over joining the Survey Corps left the trainees doubting humanity’s ability to defeat the Titans. Arthur rallied them with a speech about fighting together and resisting, ending with the trainees chanting for humanity as the instructors listened.

• Jean questioned why Eren planned to join the Survey Corps, and Eren argued that humanity had to fight the Titans rather than live behind the walls.
• Thomas described Wall Maria’s fall and the Survey Corps’ failed expeditions, deepening the trainees’ fear and doubt.
• Arthur climbed onto a table, explained how teamwork and the Titans’ nape weakness could make them vulnerable, and warned that nowhere would be safe if the walls fell.
• Arthur urged the trainees to fight rather than die as cowards, prompting one trainee and then the crowd to shout that they would be heroes.
• Arthur led the trainees in chanting to drive out the Titans and defend humanity, while Keith and the other instructors listened with tears in their eyes.

On the day after graduation, Arthur and Mikasa worked in an office with Christa and Ymir, where Mikasa explained her bond with Arthur. Their conversation was interrupted when the Colossal Titan appeared at Trost and breached the district’s gate, leaving humanity to face another Titan invasion.

• Arthur and Mikasa sorted files while Christa and Ymir visited them during a break from patrol.
• Ymir asked about Mikasa’s scarf, and Mikasa said Arthur had given it to her and explained that they were not biological siblings.
• Mikasa recalled that Arthur had saved her after robbers murdered her parents, leaving Christa and Ymir somber.
• Arthur sensed danger and saw the Colossal Titan appear beside the wall.
• The Colossal Titan swept away the wall’s cannons and kicked a massive hole through Trost District’s gate.

After the Colossal Titan breached Trost District, Arthur and the cadets prepared to fight while residents fled toward the inner gate. Kitz assigned Arthur and Mikasa to rear evacuation duty, leaving Eren, Armin, Christa, and the others to intercept the Titans.

• Residents panicked and fled after the Colossal Titan breached Trost District, and Arthur sent Christa, Mikasa, and Ymir to headquarters with him.
• Arthur found Eren, Armin, Sasha, and the other cadets safe, and Eren said the Colossal Titan had vanished during their fight.
• Kitz learned that the advance force had been wiped out, rallied the soldiers, and assigned their missions.
• Arthur protested being assigned to evacuation duty, but Kitz ordered him to obey; Arthur then urged Eren and Armin to act carefully in the vanguard.
• Christa left with her squad, while Arthur and Mikasa flew toward the inner gate and escorted fleeing residents along the way.

Arthur and Mikasa found a merchant’s oversized wagon blocking Trost District’s inner gate and forced him to move it so civilians could evacuate. They restored the crowd’s hope, then continued their mission determined to reclaim the district.

• Arthur and Mikasa escorted residents to the inner gate and found it crowded because a merchant’s wagon blocked the passage.
• The merchant refused to move his cargo and insulted the civilians and a Garrison soldier who tried to reason with him.
• Arthur and Mikasa confronted the merchant and threatened him until he ordered his men to move the wagon.
• The residents passed through the cleared gate and thanked Arthur and Mikasa, who promised to retake Trost District.

Arthur and Mikasa searched the devastated front lines for Christa, Eren, and Armin, finding Christa and Ymir alive before joining the surviving cadets. The chapter ended with Armin in shock and Eren still missing.

• Arthur and Mikasa fought their way through Titans toward the area where Eren and the others had been assigned.
• Arthur and Mikasa found Christa and Ymir on a rooftop, and Christa clung to Arthur as she mourned their dead squadmates.
• Arthur learned that Headquarters had fallen, leaving the soldiers without supplies, and he and Mikasa shared gas with Christa and Ymir.
• Arthur, Mikasa, Christa, and Ymir reached a rooftop group that included Reiner, Bertolt, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Annie, and Marco, but Eren was absent.
• Arthur and Mikasa found Armin sitting in shock, while Jean and Connie tried to reach him.

After Armin reported Eren, Thomas, and Mina’s deaths, Arthur helped Armin overcome his guilt and rallied the cadets to attack Headquarters. The chapter ended with Arthur leading the group toward the Titans surrounding Headquarters.

• Armin told Arthur, Mikasa, and the others that Eren, Thomas, and Mina had died, then blamed himself for Eren’s sacrifice.
• Arthur urged Armin to live on and honor Eren’s convictions, then asked the cadets whether they would fight their way to Headquarters.
• Arthur killed a fifteen-meter abnormal Titan and two other Titans in under a minute, restoring the cadets’ fighting spirit.
• Jean, Sasha, Connie, Reiner, Marco, Bertolt, Annie, and many others joined Arthur’s assault.
• Arthur led the group toward Headquarters as they roared and moved out.

Arthur led the soldiers toward headquarters, but his gas ran out and forced them to stop and redistribute their remaining fuel. Their journey was interrupted by a strange fifteen-meter titan that attacked and killed another titan, leaving everyone stunned.

• Arthur and Mikasa led the formation through a group of titans, while Armin worried that Arthur was using too much gas.
• Arthur's gear ran out of gas midair, but Mikasa caught him before he fell; Christa gave him a replacement canister.
• Armin shared some of his gas with Mikasa, and Reiner reported that many soldiers were running low on fuel.
• Sasha spotted a fifteen-meter titan with long black hair, and Arthur sensed that it was dangerous.
• An eight-meter titan appeared, and the strange titan charged at it and smashed its head, shocking Arthur and the others.

Arthur and Mikasa discovered that the strange Titan attacked other Titans but ignored humans, then used it to clear a path to Headquarters. Arthur led the group into the building while the Titan distracted the Titans outside.

• The strange Titan destroyed several Titans, including a six-meter Abnormal Titan, while the soldiers watched in amazement.
• Mikasa proposed using the strange Titan to clear the Titans around Headquarters, and Arthur agreed to test whether it would attack humans.
• Arthur and Mikasa approached the strange Titan, confirmed it ignored them, and returned to tell the group.
• Armin helped convince the others to guide the Titan toward Headquarters, and Arthur led the guiding team as it attacked Titans along the route.
• Arthur ordered everyone to follow the cleared path, then led them through Headquarters' windows while the strange Titan distracted the Titans outside.

Arthur and Mikasa cleared five Titans from Headquarters’ supply room, allowing the survivors to replenish their gas and blades. Arthur then led everyone onto the roof to look for the abnormal Titan, where they saw something shocking.

• Jean found the supply soldiers hiding under a desk and confronted them, but a female soldier explained that Commander Kitz and the guards had fled, leaving the supply room overrun.
• Arthur learned that five Titans were inside Headquarters and went with Mikasa to clear them out.
• Arthur and Mikasa lured the Titans into a brighter area and killed all five.
• The survivors reclaimed the supply room and replenished their equipment.
• Arthur led everyone onto the roof to see what had happened to the abnormal Titan, and they saw something shocking.

Arthur and the others watched the dying Abnormal Titan battle the Titan that had eaten Thomas. After both Titans fell, Arthur discovered Eren alive at the Abnormal Titan’s nape and brought him back to the rooftop, leaving the group stunned by Eren’s apparent transformation.

• Arthur, Mikasa, and the others discussed the Abnormal Titan’s strength and whether it could be captured as the evacuation bell rang.
• A twelve-meter Titan approached, and Armin recognized it as the Titan that had eaten Thomas.
• The Abnormal Titan charged the twelve-meter Titan, killed it by tearing out its nape, and then collapsed.
• Arthur spotted a human figure at the Abnormal Titan’s nape and found Eren alive and unconscious.
• Arthur and Mikasa carried Eren to the rooftop, where Armin embraced him and the others reacted with disbelief.

After the Garrison discovered that Eren could transform into a Titan, its soldiers aimed their guns at him, Arthur, and Mikasa. Arthur and his allies returned to the wall with Eren under the captain’s orders, leaving the dangerous situation unresolved.

• A Garrison rescue squad arrived and learned from the soldiers that Eren had emerged from a Titan’s nape.
• The squad leader ordered his soldiers to surround Arthur and the others, and two Garrison soldiers aimed their muskets at them.
• Christa, Armin, Ymir, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Marco, Reiner, Annie, and Bertolt stood between the guns and Arthur’s group.
• Captain and his soldiers arrived, heard Norton’s account, and ordered everyone to return to the wall for further consideration.
• Arthur carried Eren back to the wall while Mikasa and the others followed.

Arthur, Mikasa, Armin, and the unconscious Eren were held at gunpoint by the Garrison, where Kitz threatened to execute them over Eren’s Titan transformation. Eren woke with no memory of transforming, and the chapter left him recalling his father’s key and instruction to return to the basement in Shiganshina District.

• Garrison soldiers seized Arthur, Mikasa, Armin, and the unconscious Eren after they entered Wall Rose, then surrounded them with muskets and a howitzer.
• Arthur prepared Mikasa to break through if necessary, while Rico persuaded Kitz to hesitate by citing Arthur’s record and Pixis’s support.
• Eren relived fragments of a memory in which Grisha injected him and told him to return to the basement and stop someone whose name began with “Ar.”
• Eren woke in Armin’s arms, and Armin explained that Eren had transformed into a Titan after being swallowed and had killed the Titans around him.
• Kitz demanded to know how Eren became a Titan and threatened to blow them apart, while Eren insisted he was human and remembered that his limbs had been bitten off and regrown.
• Eren pulled out the key from his chest and recalled Grisha telling him to return to the basement in Shiganshina District.